Category: MLB

PHILADELPHIA — José Caballero didn’t see eye to eye with the umpires again Saturday night.

This time, the disagreement came on defense, as Caballero initially appeared to make a leaping catch of a Bryson Stott line drive with one out and runners on first and second in the bottom of the fourth of a 3-1 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

But Caballero dropped the Stott liner and headed to second base to tag Bryan De La Cruz, who had gone back to second.

Instead of being rewarded with a double play to end the inning, second base umpire Brennan Miller — of “savages in the box” fame — ruled that Caballero intentionally dropped the ball and the play was over, with only Stott retired and runners still on first and second.

“I was very surprised,’’ Caballero said of the call. “They really think highly of me: I can catch the ball, drop the ball and catch the bounce in one motion.”

Ryan Weathers ended up getting Derek Hill looking to end the inning to preserve a 1-1 tie.

The controversy came after Caballero found himself on the wrong side of MLB’s pitch clock rules.

He’s been able to disrupt pitchers with his routine in the batter’s box, often not engaging with the pitcher until the final second before a violation would be called.

But that changed Wednesday, when Caballero was alert in advance of the 8-second cutoff — and was still called for a violation because he spent the final few seconds before the 8-second mark in the box but looking down.

MLB decided to crack down on his tactics beginning Wednesday, as they began restricting hitters from attempting “to deceive a pitcher into beginning their windup or coming to the set position.”

Caballero and Aaron Boone said they spoke with MLB to no avail.

Caballero and Boone both said they did not believe the bizarre call Saturday was related to the infielder’s recent issues with the umps.

“I don’t think so,’’ Boone said. “I think he just missed the call.”

Giancarlo Stanton (right calf strain) is still in the midst of a running progression — not yet on the bases — but like Judge, remains without a timeline for a return. … Carlos Rodón threw a two-up (simulating two innings) bullpen session Saturday as he works back from left elbow inflammation. If he recovers well from it, the Yankees are hoping he can advance to facing hitters next week.

“I know he ran, everything went well [Friday],” Boone said of Stanton. “But not to the end game yet.”

With the Phillies using lefty opener Tim Mayza, Amed Rosario led off Saturday’s game for the Yankees.

But the veteran right-handed batter has been in a rough stretch of late — not unlike many of his teammates.

He was replaced by Ryan McMahon as soon as Mayza left the game.

Red Sox trade Connelly Early for infielder Curtis Mead: Report originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Red Sox have made their first big move of the summer.

Boston traded left-handed pitcher Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals on Saturday night, receiving infielder Curtis Mead in return.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the news.

Early has been on the injured list since July 1 due to elbow inflammation but is nearing a return to the mound. The 24-year-old made his MLB debut late last season with the Red Sox, and he ended up starting Game 3 of the Wild Card Series in Yankee Stadium.

Mead, 25, has primarily played at third base but has also played at second and first base.

The right-handed hitter is batting .256 with an .856 OPS this season, with 17 doubles and 17 home runs. In his career with the Rays, White Sox and Nationals, he’s a .245 hitter with a .710 OPS.

A native of Australia, Mead first entered professional baseball in the Phillies organization but was traded to the Rays for Cristopher Sanchez in 2019. The Rays traded Mead to the White Sox last year ahead of the deadline. The White Sox, though, designated Mead for assignment in March, eventually working out a trade that sent him to the Nationals.

The deal involves two controllable assets, as Early will be under team control until 2032 and Mead won’t reach free agency until 2031.

The deal for Craig Breslow was seemingly one made with a hope to bolster the offense, while giving up a piece of what has been an excellent and deep pitching staff. The rapid rise of rookie Jake Bennett (6-3, 2.58 ERA) along with the presence of fellow lefties Ranger Suarez, Payton Tolle and injured ace Garrett Crochet likely made the front office comfortable in dealing away Early.

The move came hours after the Red Sox mustered just one hit against Dylan Cease in a loss at Fenway Park, Boston’s fifth time being shut out this season. With Caleb Durbin turning his season around, Mead’s most obvious fit with Boston may be at second base, which has been a revolving door for the Red Sox this season. Marcelo Mayer started 39 games at second before moving to shortstop and subsequently hitting the IL. Veteran Isian Kiner-Filefa is also on the IL. Anthony Seigler has filled in admirably over the past month, but the trade signals the front office’s lack of belief that the 27-year-old with limited MLB experience can sustain his success.

All of Boston’s second basemen have combined for a .640 OPS this season, the fifth-worst mark in the majors.

The move certainly comes with risk, as Early has shown plenty of promise in his 21 big league appearances. Since debuting last September, Early has gone 8-7 with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.225 WHIP.

Despite Saturday’s loss, the Red Sox remained in the second wild card spot by the end of the day, a half-game up on the Guardians, who have a two-game cushion over the Twins in the third spot. Breslow is expected to continue to work to bolster the offense with a little more than a week remaining before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

PHILADELPHIA — Like the Ghost of Trade Deadlines Past, Camilo Doval remains in the Yankee bullpen.

While David Bednar has performed well — and been excellent of late — in the closer role, the other late-game reliever the Yankees picked up a year ago still hasn’t found a role in which he’s had any success with the Yankees.

So far, the Yankees haven’t given up on the hard-throwing right-hander, as they have appeared to with Jake Bird, another bust of the 2025 deadline.

Still, Doval entered Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Phillies having not pitched a scoreless inning in a Yankee victory since June 14.

He’s fallen behind just about everyone in the bullpen, from high-leverage relievers like Bednar and Fernando Cruz to lefties Tim Hill and Brent Headrick, as well as Paul Blackburn and even Angel Chivilli, who has shown promise lately.

After giving up 10 runs — four earned — in three appearances to start the month, the right-hander has tossed two scoreless outings, but still walked four in 2 ⅓ innings.

Aaron Boone, before Saturday’s game, said he wasn’t ready to write off Doval just yet.

“I’m hoping he works his way back into a significant role,’’ Boone said. “We cast off people all the time during a long major league season and the reality is, things change and they can change in a hurry sometimes.”

It’s been nearly a year, though, since Doval arrived from the Giants before last year’s deadline, where he was having a solid bounceback season after an ugly 2024.

But since arriving in The Bronx, Doval has seen his WHIP jump from 1.261 in four-plus seasons with the Giants to 1.473 as a Yankee.

Not only has he given up more base runners, he’s also allowed more homers and struck out fewer batters.

He hasn’t gotten meaningful outs in a win in over a month.

Boone said Saturday the team had tried to get Doval in “positions where it’s the best chance to be successful and hope from there things snowball because there’s a lot of things to like there.”

Other than throwing hard, Doval hasn’t come as advertised with the Yankees, who have seen other relievers emerge in his place.

But the fact Doval can hit triple digits and has the ability to strike people out continues to tantalize the Yankees — and perhaps it will persuade another team to buy low on him at the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

As of now, though, it’s hard to imagine his stock being any lower.

“Guys as talented as Camilo, there are stories every year of guys flipping the script over the course of a year,’’ Boone said. “We hope to do that with Camilo.”

PHILADELPHIA — Aaron Judge continues to feel better in his recovery from a right rib fracture, just not good enough for significant progress. 

Ten days after undergoing imaging on his right rib stress fracture that showed healing but not to the extent that allowed him to be cleared for baseball activities, the Yankees captain remains in a holding pattern while waiting on more healing. 

“I know the last couple days, in my conversations with him before I came on the trip, he felt quite a bit better and was encouraged with how he was feeling,” manager Aaron Boone said Saturday at Citizens Bank Park, before the Yankees defeated the Phillies 3-1. “I know he’s been rehabbing at home, I think he’s coming down here maybe [Sunday]. We’re just in that still letting-it-heal mode to the end.” 

It has now been almost two months since Judge played in a game — May 31 — and the Yankees entered Saturday 22-22 without him.

The Yankees continue to say they expect him back at some point this season, but a timeline for that to actually happen is impossible to know until he is cleared for baseball activities — which won’t be done until another round of imaging shows more healing. 

In the meantime, the Yankees offense has been a shell of itself without the back-to-back AL MVP. 

Since June 1 — the day after Judge played his last game — the Yankees’ four runs per game were the fifth lowest in the majors.

Their 89 wRC+ (weighted runs created, where 100 is league average) was the third-worst.

Their .680 OPS was the fourth-worst, their .223 batting average the second-worst and their .286 on-base percentage the worst.

Their 26 percent strikeout rate was also the worst, and their 7.7 percent walk rate the sixth-worst. 

The Nats needed to win this game in order to stay in the hunt, and that is exactly what they did. In their most important game in years, the Nats held their nerve and battled to a 5-3 win. It was not a perfect performance by any means, but they did enough to get a curly W, which is all that matters.

For the first couple innings, the Nats offense picked up where they left off last night. They looked listless against the soft tossing Mitch Bratt. That made the D-Backs two run third inning even more worrisome. Foster Griffin was shaky early on, having to escape some jams. He could not quite wiggle out of the third inning though. Griffin allowed a 2-run single to one of the games most underrated players in Gabriel Moreno.

However, as this team has done all season long, the Nats responded. They began to figure out Bratt as they faced him a second time. After a Curtis Mead walk and Andres Chaparro double, the boys were in business. CJ Abrams came up with yet another huge hit, doubling in the gap to tie the game.

Abrams made a bone-headed mistake afterwards though, immediately getting picked off. However, the Nats restarted the rally with a walk and a hit. That brought up Daylen Lile, who has not been great with runners in scoring position this season. This time the 23 year old came through, hitting a triple, something he has become famous for. That gave the Nats a 4-2 lead.

It took a while for Lile to get his first triple, but once he did, they are starting to come in bunches again. He now has five triples on the season, after hitting 11 last year as a rookie. Lile has been somewhat disappointing this year, but he is still holding his own for the most part, and is still very young at 23. He has also made some massive leaps on the defensive side of the ball. I am still a big believer in Lile despite a bit of a sophomore slump.

One player who is not having a slump by any definition of the term is CJ Abrams. The Nats shortstop is having a career year, and is only picking things up in the second half. He went 3 for 4 today, finishing a triple shy of the cycle. His solo homer in the 5th made the game 5-2. The Nats did not score after that despite threatening. However, those five runs would be enough today.

Abrams is just having a monster year. He is hitting .293 with a .921 OPS to go along with 25 homers and a Major League leading 79 RBI’s. The speedy shortstop also has 17 steals to go along with that power production. Abrams has been the best offensive shortstop in baseball this season, and it is not particularly close. The Alien has been out of this world in 2026.

As we have discussed, the second half has been a bit of a bugaboo for Abrams the past couple years. However, he has come back from the All-Star Break firing on all cylinders. In his last six games, Abrams is 14 for 25 with 5 homers. You can do the math on the batting average, but all I know is that it is pretty good.

Besides Abrams, the biggest story of the game was the pitching. With trade rumors swirling around him and Abrams, Foster Griffin got the start today. This was not the sharpest we have seen Griffin, but he still went 6.2 innings, allowing three runs. If this is the last, or one of the last starts we see Foster Griffin make in a Nats uniform, all I can say is thank you Foster. He has been such a breath of fresh air and a joy to watch.

Griffin delivering a quality start was not much of a surprise. However, what followed him was a little surprising. Eddy Yean and Clayton Beeter were absolutely fantastic coming out of the bullpen. The duo went 2.1 innings without allowing a baserunner. They shut things down in a drama free manner, which is a pleasant sight for all Nats fans.

Yean in particular has been a revelation for this team. The hard throwing righty is starting to find his way into high leverage spots for the Nats. His power sinker and confident demeanor seem like a fit in the back of the bullpen. It does not take much to rise up the trust tree of Nats relievers, but right now Yean might be on the top of that list.

He is not scared to pound the zone with his power stuff and attack hitters. It is easier for a guy with his velocity to attack guys without fearing the consequences. Yean just has more margin for error, and he knows it. This is just a guy pitching with a ton of confidence.

This was a must win game, and the boys rose to the occasion. There were still some missed opportunities on the offensive side of the ball, but they did enough. Tomorrow, they will close out this series against the D-Backs with a huge rubber match. They will face another rookie lefty in Kohl Drake, so hopefully they can take advantage of that. With the deadline looming, every game is amplified, especially against a direct Wild Card contender like the D-Backs.

Shohei Ohtani’s throwing program has stalled, with the Dodgers star canceling a bullpen session the team had tentatively scheduled for Saturday.

“Just doesn’t feel 100%,” manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani’s left knee. “And because I think that the last ‘pen that he had, there was a little bit of regression. So we want to make sure that that doesn’t happen again.”

It was going to be Ohtani’s second bullpen since receiving an orthovisc injection in his knee on July 12. He threw a roughly 30-pitch side session on Wednesday.

Read more:Kyle Tucker homers again, shows flashes of his past form in Dodgers' win over Mets

It’s unclear when he’ll throw off the mound next. But Roberts said he’s still optimistic that Ohtani will return to the rotation sometime in August.

“It was obviously not ideal, him throwing his last bullpen and going backwards, essentially,” Roberts said. “So obviously that’s disappointing because you throw a bullpen to continue to build up. So that was disappointing. But as far as worry, concern, we don’t have any of that.”

Roberts described a “fluid” process, with plenty of input from Ohtani, as he and Dodgers continue to navigate the knee issue. Because only pitching seems to be aggravating the injury, Ohtani will continue to play at designated hitter.

“From his words, the hitting, the running, as he has done the last couple nights, doesn’t affect him,” Roberts said. “So I can only go by what he and the training staff are telling me. So, unless I hear otherwise, that hitting compromises his health, then I’m going to keep putting him in the lineup.”

The Dodgers had initially hoped the injection and time off leading up to the All-Star break would allow him to get past the discomfort in his knee and not have to worry about managing it for the rest of the season.

Read more:Jeff Kent starting to feel like a Hall of Famer this weekend

Though Ohtani feels better than he did before the break, according to Roberts, the team wasn’t envisioning this kind of start-and-stop buildup.

The schedule does the Dodgers some favors. The off day Monday allows them to get through this coming week without filling Ohtani’s spot in the rotation. But in order to keep all their starters on a six- to seven-day rotation, they’ll have to find a replacement — whether that be a bullpen day or another starter — by the first week of August.

Starting pitcher Blake Snell (arthroscopic elbow surgery) is on track to be close to a return from the injured list by then. In his second rehab start this month, he threw 2⅔ innings (49 pitches) for triple-A Oklahoma City on Friday.

He’ll be targeting four innings in his next start, according to Roberts. When asked if he’d need another rehab outing after that, Roberts said: “Let’s just get through that next one. Get through four innings and kind of read and react from there.”

Injury updates

The Dodgers are set to welcome back utility player Kiké Hernández (strained left oblique) and closer Edwin Díaz (arthroscopic elbow surgery) from the injured list early in next week’s homestand.

Hernández is set to be activated Tuesday, as the Dodgers open a three-game series against the Seattle Mariners, Roberts said. And Díaz likely will return Wednesday, sliding back into the closer role that Tanner Scott has held in his absence.

Tyler Glasnow (back spasms) threw about 25 pitches in a one-inning live batting practice session Friday, Roberts said. He’s scheduled to throw to batters again next week.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Blue Jays 6 Red Sox 0

Dylan Cease went nine complete, giving up just one hit (with three walks and twelve strikeouts). He was just amazing, even with Dan telling us he wasn’t throwing as hard as usual.

And the offense did the job.

We got:

• Five in the third: With two out….Nathan Lukes doubled. Vlad singled him home. Kazuma Okamoto singled. And George Springer hit a home run (making up for a base running error the inning before. Springer was on second, Yohendrick Piñango lined a soft one to center, Springer, apparently, thought it would land, but Ceddanne Rafaela made the catch coming in and doubled up Springer. It wasn’t that tough of a catch).
• One in the ninth: Andrés Giménez led off with a single. An out later Lukes doubled. Then Vlad singled home one. Lucky for Vlad, it was deflected by the pitcher, or it would have been an easy out.

We had 15 hits, 14 more than the Red Sox.

Vlad and Ernie had three hits each. Lukes, Springer, Varsho, and Giménez had two each. Brandon Valenzuela and Piñango/Myles Straw (sharing is caring) had 0 fors.

Jays of the Day: Cease (0.27) and Springer (0.26) Honourable Mention to Vlad.

Other Award: Lips (-0.10).

Tomorrow is a 1:30 start time. It is great to start every game at a different time. Kevin Gausman (4-9, 4.91) will try to make up for last start. Ranger Suarez (4-3, 3.15) starts for the bad guys.

Dodgers try for their fifth win in as many tries against the Mets this season, with ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound in Queens.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Mets
• Ballpark: Citi Field, Queens
• Start time: 4:15 p.m. PT
• TV: Fox
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Andre Pallante has made 80 starts across his five-season career as he’s worked both out of the bullpean and in the rotation. This will mark his 11th start against the Cincinnati Reds, which is the most he’s made against any club in his career. He’s also faced Reds hitters in 286 career PA, which is the most he’s faced against any club in the game.

He’s been good against the Reds, too. Cincinnati hitters have hit just .238/.331/.335 off him, and he’s pitched to a 2.41 ERA in 67.1 overall IP against them. So, the Reds better have something new up their sleeve when they face the righty in Busch Stadium on Saturday evening.

For the Reds, though, it comes down equally to Hunter Greene, who’ll get his fourth start of the year after sitting out three months following elbow surgery. His most recent two outings have been rather stellar, and to his credit he’s held Cardinals hitters to just a .641 OPS in 206 PA against them in his career (with a 3.23 ERA in 47.1 IP).

First pitch is once again set for 7:15 PM ET. Spencer Steer is out of the lineup to begin this one, while Ke’Bryan Hayes is starting at 3B.

Here’s how both clubs will line up to start:

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani had a setback in his recovery from a left knee injury, delaying his scheduled bullpen session on Saturday, July 25, in New York.

The two-way star was expected to have a bullpen session before the Dodgers’ road game against the New York Mets at Citi Field.

The next steps for Ohtani remain uncertain for the foreseeable future and the Dodgers haven't provided a timetable for his return.

The two-way star was pulled from his scheduled start before the MLB All-Star break due to inflammation and irritation in his left knee.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed on Saturday that there was some “regression” with Ohtani’s knee following his bullpen session on Wednesday, July 22, in Philadelphia.

Roberts told reporters on Friday, July 24 that he feels that a return to the mound wouldn’t happen next week.

"Every player wants to get back out there and do what they do. But I think he understands it's not about July, it's about October," Roberts said. "So, we've already taken a lot of time to get him back to full health, so we're not going to start earlier than we need to."

More: Shohei Ohtani Tokyo Series cleats with rare signature expected to set auction record

It’s game 2 of the St. Louis Cardinals weekend series against the Cincinnati Reds Saturday night. The Cardinals will hand the ball to Andre Pallante while the Reds will have Hunter Greene to make the start. First pitch is set for 6:15pm central time and the TV broadcast will be available through Cardinals.tv.

PHILADELPHIA — It’s too late at this point for Austin Wells to do anything to keep the Yankees from looking to add a catcher before the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Wells is having another rough season at the plate, and the organization knows it needs an upgrade at the position.

He insisted Saturday that the situation isn’t weighing on him as the deadline approaches.

“It’s not because I can’t control anything that happens there,’’ Wells said before homering for the third time in nine games in a 3-1 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. “All I can do is go play and try to win. I feel that being behind the plate for our staff and the guys is giving us the best chance to win. I tell myself that. I can’t control anything other than that.”

His success at becoming a solid defensive catcher has continued to surprise scouts who saw him in college and in the minors.

But Wells’ lack of production at the plate has bewildered them even more.

“He doesn’t look like the same guy,” one American League scout said.

It’s why, as The Post’s Joel Sherman has reported, the Yankees continue to be interested in Minnesota catcher Ryan Jeffers.

For now, though, Wells is splitting time with Ali Sánchez and getting some results.

The home run, which came off right-hander Brian Keller with two outs in the third inning, was his seventh of the year.

Wells entered Saturday having reached base in four straight plate appearances, then homered and walked.

After his OPS dropped to an MLB-worst .468 on July 8, the lefty hitter has been better.

In his previous eight games entering Saturday, he was 6-for-21 with a pair of homers, four walks and four strikeouts.

“It feels good to contribute on both sides of the ball,’’ the catcher said.

That’s after he recovered from the cervical headaches that landed him on the IL earlier in the year.

“I feel like I’m seeing the ball better, honestly,’’ Wells said of the recent uptick. “I’m just generally seeing the baseball better.”

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

He’s still not sure if that’s a result of being healthy.

“It could be,’’ Wells said. “I’ve been feeling much better.”

Wells also credited the hockey-style mask he’s worn since returning.

“I’m still doing better every day,’’ the catcher said. “I never dealt with something like this before and there’s not a lot of research on this kind of [injury].”

He’s hoping he’s turned a corner at the plate.

Even with that improvement, Wells entered Saturday with the worst batting average (.163) of any player in the majors with 220 plate appearances this season.

His .262 on-base percentage and .524 OPS are also the second worst of the 241 hitters with that many plate appearances.

“Obviously, we expect a lot more of him offensively, but he knows he can hit,” Aaron Boone said. “He knows he’s a better hitter than he’s shown this year. It’s tough to deal with, but he’s also mature enough and advanced enough in his career that he understands the importance of being behind the plate every single day and the role of limiting runs and helping the pitching staff. He’s done a really good job of separating it.”

“That’s my No. 1 job: being able to lock in on defense and focus to have great games with our pitchers,’’ Wells said. “That takes a lot of the weight of the results off the hitting side away, but I know I can hit better than I’ve shown.”

TONIGHT’S GAME: Tonight, the Astros and White Sox play the 2nd game of this 3-game series at Rate Field in Chicago…RHP Hunter Brown (1-1) starts for the Astros as he takes on White Sox RHP Sean Burke (7-4).

ROAD WARRIORS: Tonight is the 2nd game of a 6-game road trip for the Astros, during which they are scheduled to play 3-game sets vs. the Chica- go White Sox (Fri.-Sun.) and Los Angeles Angels

(Mon.-Wed.)…the Astros are 18-12 (.600) on their last five road trips combined and are 24-18 (.571) on the road since going 1-9 on their first road trip of the season.

ROAD SLUGGING: The Astros are T-1st in the AL in road HR (73) while ranking 2nd in road OPS (.746)
and road SLG (.421) and 3rd in road runs scored (252).

BROTHER BROWN: RHP Hunter Brown will make his 9th start of the season and his 7th since return-
ing from a lengthy stint on the IL with a right shoulder strain…Last Start: Took the loss on 7/19 vs. BAL (4.2 IP, 3 ER, 6 BB, 4 SO.

FOUR-FOR-FOUR: Brown is 4-0 in his 4 career starts vs. the White Sox with a 2.92 ERA (8ER/24.2IP) with 29 K’s…Top Rate: He is 3-0 in 3 career starts at Rate Field with a 3.57 ERA (7ER/17.2IP) with 23 K’s…his last start vs. the White Sox was an 8-3 win on May 3 at Rate Field (6 IP, 3 ER, 9 SO)…Last Season: Finished 3rd in the
AL Cy Young voting after posting a 12-9 record with a 2.43 ERA and 206 strikeouts.

VS. THE CHISOX: The Astros are facing the White Sox for the 1st time in 2026…they were 3-3 vs. CWS last season, going 2-1 at home and 1-2 here in Chicago…the Astros are 21-13 (.618) vs. CWS over the past 6 seasons (2021-26), posting winning records in each of the past 5 seasons…HOU is 54-46 all-
time vs. CWS…the Astros are now 4-0 in Chicago in 2026 (swept the Cubs at Wrigley, May 22-24).

ROSTER MOVE: The Astros have recalled LHP Bryan King from Triple A Sugar Land and have placed RHP Spencer Arrighetti on the 15-day Injured List due to right foot nerve irritation…King will join the Astros today in Chicago.

TODAY’S AVAILABILITIES: The Astros clubhouse will be open to approved media at Rate Field from 3:15-4:05 p.m. CT…Astros Manager Joe Espada will be made available in the Astros dugout at approx. 4:05 p.m.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Friday, July 25, 6:10 p.m. CT

Location: Rate Field, Chicago, IL

TV: SCHN

Radio: KTRH 740 AM; KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

We’re just going to pretend like that one never happened, right? The Sox held the Astros scoreless in seven of the nine innings they played yesterday, and allowed just one in one of the others. We can leave it at that, I think.

At the very least, the Sox have the advantage of sending their hottest starter to the hill to make a fourth straight series win still salvageable, as Sean Burke looks to continue his stretch of looking like one of the best pitchers in baseball, bar none. His 1.40 ERA since June 18th is a top-six mark in the majors, with well-more than a strikeout per inning to boot. He has been the beneficiary of an abnormally-low BABIP and abnormally-high left-on-base percentage, which means there’s been some sequencing luck involved in his success.

That being said, there’s also this, which you can’t attribute to batted-ball luck in the slightest:

There’s also this fun little nugget I came across: Burke has hit 98 mph 16 times since June 18 alone, and his six fastest pitches of the year have all resulted in strikeouts. When he’s got a hitter in the hole and needs some extra oomph, Burke is pretty dang good at reaching back to get it.

Only once since Covid-19 have the Sox had a pitcher reach 180 innings, much less 200, which was last accomplished by James Shields in 2018. Burke and Davis Martin are both on pace to challenge the 180 threshold, and we’ll see tonight whether Burke can maintain his six-plus innings per start pace of the last month and change.

Unfortunately, the Astros are also throwing their best tonight. Hunter Brown finished third in Cy Young balloting last year but hasn’t quite looked himself since returning from injury in mid-June, and he’s got a pedestrian 4.08 ERA heading into this one. He also seems to have lost a handle on his control as of late, walking 15 against 11 strikeouts over 14 2/3 innings in his last three starts. The Sox are one of the more patient teams in the league, so this does have the potential to be an explosive one for their offense. Nonetheless, Brown’s fastball/curveball combination remains relatively intact, so this one could swing on Chicago’s ability to not swing at pitcher’s pitches and make Brown beat them with his less-dangerous slider and changeup.

Here’s the lineup that Will Venable hopes can break out of the South Siders’ second-half semi-power outage. It’s pretty much the best they got, until the hot stove starts burning:

Meanwhile, Joe Espada pushes back with the following:

If the Sox can stop Yordan Alvarez from beating them like they did yesterday (1-for-4 with a walk and two runs, so it’s all relative, but nonetheless!), I’m willing to take my chances that they won’t let Jeremy Peña, José Altuve and LaMonte Wade Jr. beat them on their own again. Whether it matters will be in the hands of Sox hitters.

First pitch is at 6:05 p.m. CT from Rate Field in Armour Square, with standard broadcasts on CHSN (TV) and ESPN 1000 AM (radio). We’ll see you there!

Well. This series certainly didn’t get off to the start the Mariners had hoped for. Bryan Woo takes the mound tonight to try to help turn things around for the Mariners.

Lineups:

J.P. Crawford returns from wrist soreness and rejoins the lineup, but Cole Young remains in the leadoff spot.

Today’s game information:

TV: FOX

Radio: 710 Seattle Sports